


Folie a Deux

by phantomofsam



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence, F/M, Spoilers, Strong Language, probably something else
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-09-28 04:42:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10072250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomofsam/pseuds/phantomofsam
Summary: What if Nate and Nora split up before the world ended?What if they both lived through Shaun's kidnapping?Based off of a prompt on Tumblr made by thegoldenhalla. Go check them out!, and rated M for language.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I got permission to write this story. Thegoldenhalla and I talked about this a couple of days ago and I have been writing like mad ever since!

_Nora’s POV_

I did another once over of the house. All of Shaun’s toys were packed up in their case and in my car. Shaun was sitting in his stroller and he was waiting patiently. Not that he had much other choice. I let out a deep breath. This was the first time that Nate would have Shaun on his own. We had gotten joint custody after our divorce, but we had agreed that it would be better for him to be close to his mother for the first six months of his life. Now Shaun was going away for a week. I would be glad for some of the time to myself, but I wasn’t looking forward to not having him near me. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t nervous. Yeah. I was nervous. I didn’t want to be away from my baby from that long, but that was what happened with shared custody. No matter how much it freaked me out. I could be calm.

Yeah. I could be calm.

I strapped Shaun’s car seat in the back and slid into the driver’s side. I readjusted the mirror and looked at Shaun. I cooed at him. He laughed. I chuckled. I was lucky to have such a beautiful, healthy baby boy. I was unlucky to have Nate as an ex-husband. Sure, there had been a time when things had been wonderful between us, but we had gotten married young. I had gotten pregnant young. That was around the time that Nate and I had started fighting. It was just little things, at first, but slowly, all of those little fights would turn into much bigger, longer fights that we couldn’t avoid. We didn’t want Shaun to grow up in a house where his parents were always fighting, and it wasn’t a good environment for us, either. So, we split and found a divorce lawyer. I’d say that the split was amicable.

Well, amicable enough.

It wasn’t that long of a drive to Nate’s house. He had really gone all out with the whole “suburban dad” thing. I had gone for more of the lawyer professional type dwelling that still was safe for Shaun. I sighed and stepped around to Shaun’s seat. He laughed as I picked up his car seat and slung his bag of toys and pacifiers and other things that he would need while he was here. I walked up to the orange wooden door and pressed the doorbell. I heard shuffling from inside and the door opened, revealing Nate.

He was still only half-shaven, wearing a white T-shirt and sweatpants. I sighed.

“Hello, Nate.” I said with a smile. “You’re looking well.”

“Nora. Come on in. Just give me a minute.” He stepped aside and disappeared around the corner.

I walked inside. I was instantly greeted by his Mr. Handy Robot, Codsworth. He took my bag and brought it into Shaun’s room. I set Shaun on the counter and looked around. Nate’s house was surprisingly clean. That must have been Codsworth’s doing. The poor robot was probably working overtime cleaning up after Nate. His TV was on. It was the news. Most of it was the same old stuff that it always was. I didn’t pay much attention to it. I picked up the box of Sugar Bombs and put them in the cupboard. Codsworth offered me a cup of coffee. I thanked him but declined. I still had to get to work. I picked up Shaun and carried him to his room. I was pleasantly surprised. The last time that I had been here, it had been white. And the crib was wobbly, and the little mobile over the crib was broken. Nate had fixed all of that. Good for him. I put Shaun in his crib and walked back to the living room.

“Do you need any help, Codsworth? I have a few minutes before I should leave.” I said.

“No, no, that’s quite all right, ma’am. I’ve got this handled.” Codsworth responded.

“Whatever you say, Codsworth.”

I felt like a stranger here. I _was_ a stranger here. I wanted to say goodbye to Nate and give him a list of things to do to calm Shaun down. I was pretty sure that he didn’t need it, but it was more to give me comfort than to tell him how to do something. Peace of mind, and all of that. I moved back and forth on my heels. I looked at his shelf. There were a few pictures from trips he had taken. The tri fold American flag that he had been given after his service. I turned away. His time in the army was a part of the reason that we had split up in the first place. When he had come back from the war, he was a different person. He wasn’t my husband anymore. We’d started to fight more and more until I couldn’t take it anymore and I-

I shook my head. I couldn’t think about that for too long. I’d start to get angry.

The doorbell rang. I wasn’t sure that it would be a good idea for me to answer it. 

“Nate?” I yelled.

“Go ahead and answer it, Nora. I’ll be out in a moment.” He yelled back.

I grumbled under my breath and walked to the door. I was surprised to see a representative from Vault-Tec. I didn’t know what to say. I was too busy wondering when Nate had registered for this. More importantly, where had he gotten the money? Or maybe this was because of the time he had spent in the military. I had heard that some of the higher ranking officers had been offered slots for their families, granted the vault was near their house.

“Hello ma’am! Vault-Tec calling!” He said pleasantly.

“Oh. I, um, give me a moment. Nate!”

Where the hell was he?

 

“If you don’t mind, ma’am, I do have a rather tight schedule to keep and this is just a few questions. Won’t take but a minute.”

I looked back at the corner, then my watch, then the Vault-Tec representative. I let out a resigned sigh. “All right. Please, make it quick.”

“Of course, ma’am. I need to confirm that it is a family of three for the vault. Two adults, one male, one female, and an infant.”

“I, uh, yeah, I guess that’s us.”

Had Nate signed all of us up?

“The names are Nathaniel Lloyd, Nora Dayes, and Shaun Dayes-Lloyd?”

“Yes.”

“Wonderful! Thank you for your time, Miss Dayes, and remember, choose Vault-Tec!”

“Apparently, we already did.”

I closed the door and turned around, sighing heavily. I supposed it was nice that Nate had done this and signed me up as well. It was good to have peace of mind, but at the same time, that was a lot of my personal information that he had given out without my permission. I let myself take a deep breath and calm down. I was only just wound up tightly when I was around Nate. Speak of the devil. He came around the corner, wiping the last remnants of shaving cream off of his cheeks.

“Who was it?” He asked.

“Vault-Tec representative.” I crossed my arms.

“Shit. Look, I was gonna tell you. I signed us up before the divorce and I added Shaun a couple of weeks ago. Just in case.”

“Nate, stop. I’m not mad. It’s always good to be safe. I just hope that we don’t need to go there anytime soon.”

“Me too. Lord knows that the threat is always there.”

“Yeah.” I looked at my watch again. “I’ve got to get to work. I’ll be back on Sunday to pick him up.”

I started to the door. Shaun started crying. I let my maternal instinct kick in and I walked over to him. I smiled at Shaun when I saw him. My beautiful baby boy. I chuckled and walked to the edge of his crib. I reached in. He grabbed my finger and smiled up at me with his big brown eyes. He had Nate’s eyes. I had light blue eyes. 

“Nora. You should come and see this.” Nate yelled.

I picked up Shaun and walked into the living room. Nate and Codsworth were both staring at the television. The reporter was somberly giving the news. Over four cities had been completely annihilated by nuclear bombs. He shook his head and looked down at his desk in shock. The signal went dead. Nate and I exchanged a glance. He opened the door and we started running. I apologised to Shaun every time that I nearly tripped. This wasn’t happening. This _wasn’t happening._ It wasn’t supposed to be happening. Would Shaun grow up in a vault now? Would he ever know the feeling of the sun on his face? I forced myself to calm down. If I continued to breath this quickly, I would have a panic attack. 

I stopped pondering these questions and focused on following Nate to the vault. There was a line of people. Nate and I moved to the front. Nate said our names and they let us through. I held Shaun close to my chest. We were ushed by a man in a blue uniform to a large elevator. We stood on the centre of the platform. Was this really happening? Or would I wake up in my house soon? As the elevator started to descend, I heard an explosion. I turned towards the sound.

My god.

The cloud extended above buildings, over I don’t know how much sky. All I knew was that the shock wave flew over our heads as the elevator continued to go down, deeper and deeper into the ground until it was dark. The last light faded away as the two great doors closed above our heads. I kissed the top of Shaun’s head. We had made it. What were the chances of that? If I had left, or been just a few minutes late dropping off Shaun at Nate’s, then… I shook my head. Eventually, after what felt like a lifetime, a small light appeared, slowly getting larger. It revealed a heavy chain gate that opened once the elevator stopped. We were ushed out as a man in a labcoat gave a speech. I was brought to a table with a woman that was handing out Vault-Tec uniforms. I handed Nate Shaun before I changed into the comfortable blue fabric. There was a bright yellow 111 on the back. 

I looked at myself in the mirror. This was my life now. I felt tears threaten to escape me. I couldn’t lose myself now. I walked back out and took back Shaun so Nate could change as well. I didn’t ask what they were going to do with our old clothes. I wondered if they would need lawyers down here. Maybe. We were safe now. We had to be.

Right?

Nate came back out and we were lead by a doctor to a series of pods. He said they were decontamination pods. I didn’t question it. I was still in shock from it all. Everything had happened so suddenly. I held Shaun close to me as I stopped inside of the pod. The door closed around me. I looked outside. Nate was right across from me. The air grew colder. Before long, I was


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter actually changes perspectives! As the rest of the story will! Should be fun. This is also one of the longer chapters that I've written in the last couple of months. I hope you enjoy it!

_~Nora’s POV~_

I felt the breath rush back into my lungs.

That was the first sensation that I felt. The air was cold and I started to cough as I struggled to catch my breath. My eyes shot open. I was… where was I? I was having a hard time remembering. I felt Shaun stirring in my arms. It all came back to me. I had been bringing Shaun to Nate’s house. Then the bombs fell. Running. There was a lot of running and we came to the vault. Then they… they lied to us! They put us in these pods and froze us! I held Shaun closer to me. I was already starting to shiver. I could only imagine what it was like for him. He wasn’t crying, but at least he was moving and breathing. I shifted his weight into one arm and pressed along the edge of the door. There had to be a release, right? Somewhere…

I looked out across the way. Nate was also looking for a way out. Our eyes met. He pointed to Shaun. I nodded to let him know that Shaun was okay. I was shivering pretty badly now. I kept Shaun close to me, gently rubbing his small body. If we didn’t get out of here soon and get some dry clothes, bad things could start happening. There was a loud hissing sound as a door opened. There were muffled voices and footsteps. Maybe it was all over and they were here to get us out. Wouldn’t that be something? They stopped in front of me. The woman said something about this being the one.

They weren’t from Vault-Tec.

The man stopped and looked at me. He was bald and had a large scar across the left side of his face. He hit the door of my pod with his gun. I started breathing heavier. Why did he have a gun? Why did he need a gun? My door was opened. I instinctively held Shaun closer to me. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t stay here. What was I going to do? What did they want from me? I saw Nate continue to hit the door of his cryo-pod. Yes, because that was so helpful in this situation. There had to be a way out of this. Something. Anything.

“Hey. We’ve, uh, we’ve come to get you out. Yeah.” He said. It sounded _so_ convincing. “Just hand me the kid and we can get out of here.”

“I… no. No, I’ve got him.” 

What did they want with Shaun? He took a step forward, reaching for Shaun. I pulled away and held Shaun closer to me. Was there anyway for me to get out of this? He moved back, too. The woman in the white suit took that as her cue to step forward and wrap her arms around _my_ son. I struggled to hold onto him while not hurting him. It was more difficult than it seemed, especially since it looked like the woman didn’t care. 

“I’m only going to tell you one more time. Let go of the kid.” The man said.

“You’re not taking Shaun!” I yelled.

The man sighed in frustration and pointed his gun at me. I saw everything happening in slow motion. His finger pulling the trigger. I could see it happening, but I couldn’t seem to move out of the way of the bullet as it flew towards me. It hit my left shoulder, flying through my flesh and hitting the back of the pod. The shock and pain made me let go of Shaun. It was just an instant. That was all that it took. Nate was screaming curses at the top of his lungs. I could barely hear him. The door closed around me again. I pressed a bloody hand against the glass before I was once again in darkness.

* * *

I felt the pain in my shoulder spread to the rest of my body. I yelled out in pain, a yell that turned into a cough as the air filled my lungs for the second time in what felt like recent history, and pressed my hand against the wound. I beat the door. It opened suddenly and I fell forward onto the ground. I stretched out my hands to break my fall. The impact sent a jarring pain into my shoulder and down my side. Nate wasn’t far behind. He struggled to breath. I rolled onto my back and looked at the bright lights above me. I had let Shaun go. He was gone. Shaun was gone. I had let him go.

“Shit, Nora.” Nate said.

Nate crawled over to me and looked at my shoulder. He searched for some form of cloth. The cryo-pods had stopped the bleeding, but now that I was thawing out, it was starting all over again. He helped me to my feet and kept his hand on the other part of my wound. I was only a little dizzy from the increasing blood loss.

“Come on, Nora. We’ve got to find you a stimpak or bandages or something.” He said.

“They took Shaun.” That was all that I could manage to get out in response.

“One thing at a time. Now let’s move.”

I nodded. I didn’t know what else to do. I knew that he was right. We had to focus on the now, otherwise there would be no getting Shaun back. And we had to get Shaun back. Nate went to look in the bathrooms. I leaned heavily against the wall. He came back with one stimpak and gauze pads. I pulled my uniform over my shoulder. He stuck me with the needle and pressed the plunger. I winced as the medicine went through my system and the wound started to close. It wouldn’t heal it completely, but it would stop the bleeding and that was what needed to happen right now. He pressed the pad against my shoulder. I sighed. He taped it down and I pulled the soft fabric back over my skin.

“There. Now, we need to find a way out of here. Back to the surface.” Nate said.

“Yeah…” I responded.

I nodded. I wasn’t a fan of compartmentalising. I liked to think ahead. I needed to. It was how I survived. Nate’s view on this was not my favourite one. It was a temporary solution to the bigger problem, which should have been our main focus. Our son was gone. I wanted nothing more than to find him, by any means necessary. I had to find him.

* * *

_~Nate’s POV~_

My eyes shot open. What had happened? I regained my breath and looked around the pod. There was water dripping down from the metal. I pressed against the door. It was some kind of… cryo-pod or something. We had been guinea pigs in some sick sort of experiment. I had to get out of here and get Shaun… Shaun! I looked across the way. Nora was holding onto him. She saw me looking. I pointed to Shaun. Please let him be okay. Please. She nodded. I let out a sigh of relief that I was certain was audible to even her. He was okay. Now we just had to find a way out of this place. I was starting to shiver. I could only imagine what Shaun felt like in this moment. There was no release on the inside. That made sense.

The door at the end of the hall hissed open. Muffled voices started to talk, followed by quick footsteps. Thank god. Someone was here to get us out. Finally. I hit the glass. Once they came into view, I stopped. The man was wearing a leather coat and dark jeans with some sort of armour on his arm. The woman was in what looked like a rad suit. That didn’t bode well for the surface. They weren’t from Vault-Tec. They stopped and looked at Nora’s pod. The bald man hit the door of her pod with his gun. She flinched. I couldn’t blame here. This did not look like it was going well. 

There had to be some way out of this.

Why did he have a gun? He was coming to see a bunch of people stuck in metal pods. Defenseless people. What was going on here? Who had sent them? Had anyone sent them at all?

Her door opened. No. No no no. Come on! I had to get out of here! She was stuck and defenseless with my son in her arms! I hit the door again. Please, just open! I needed to get out of here! Something had to work, right? There had to be some sort of a failsafe. There was always a failsafe in places like this.

“Hey. We’ve, uh, we’ve come to get you out. Yeah.” The man said. I didn’t like the way that his voice sounded. It was menacing. “Just hand me the kid and we can get out of here.”

“I… no. No, I’ve got him.” Nora insisted.

They wanted Shaun? What could they possibly want with Shaun? The man took a step forward with his arms outstretched. Nora pulled away and he backed up. That was a good sign. Right? The woman took her chances. She grabbed Shaun. Nora struggled to hold on to him. The man started to get frustrated.

“I’m only going to tell you one more time. Let go of the kid.” He said.

“You’re not taking Shaun!” She yelled.

The man sighed in frustration and pointed his gun at Nora. I watched helplessly as he pulled the trigger. Nora cried out in pain and let go of Shaun. I banged against the door and let out a string of curses. This had to end now! They couldn’t take Shaun! Nora pressed a hand against the door, leaving a bloody handprint against the glass. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t

* * *

My door opened and I fell against the floor, coughing and sputtering as I tried to regain my breath and movement. How could this have happened again? I pushed myself up. I saw Nora looking up at the lights, laying down on her back. The blood started to trail against the floor, spreading to the puddles.

“Shit, Nora!” I crawled over to her. I started searching for something to stop the bleeding. There wasn’t really anything here that would work. Shit. _Shit!_

If we didn’t stop this bleeding, she would die. I helped her to her feet. There had to be some medical supplies here. This was supposed to be an advanced facility, right? There was something here. She was leaning heavily against me.

“Come on, Nora. We’ve got to find you a stimpak or bandages or something.” I said.

“They took Shaun.” She said. Her voice sounded… dead. Like she was lost. This was not good. She couldn’t close off right now. I had to think of something to say to her to bring her back. Damn it. Nora did this way too often.

“One thing at a time. Now let’s move.” I said. 

Was I treating her like a soldier? What? She was going to be pissed.

Nora nodded.

She… nodded.

That was new.

It was a welcome change, so that was a good thing. Maybe we would go a little longer than usual without fighting. Wouldn’t that be something? I kept her standing and walking while trying to stop the bleeding to the best of my ability. Bathrooms. There would be a first aid kit in the bathroom. It was regulation. For this vault to get past the inspections, it would need to pass those regulations. I left Nora leaning against a wall as I searched. I saw the familiar white box on the side of the wall. I looked inside. Thank god.

Even one stimpak could save a life.

I came back to Nora. I helped her pull her uniform over her shoulder to reveal the wound. It could have been a lot worse. She was lucky that it hadn’t hit any bones. If it had, this would be a very different story. I pushed the needle into her skin and pressed the plunger down. She winced. The bleeding stopped. I put a gauze pad against the wound and taped it down. She pulled the uniform back over her shoulder.

“There. Now, we need to find a way out of here. Back to the surface.” I said, looking up at the ceiling.

“Yeah…” Nora still sounded broken.

We had to compartmentalise. It was the only way that we would be able to get out of this. It was how we were going to survive. Finding Shaun was important, but if we died, then it would all be for nothing. I wanted to find him, but we had to be careful about it. Nora and I walked side by side. She wasn’t leaning on me anymore, which was an improvement. We had to take a back exit until we reached the overseer’s office. Nora got on the terminal while I looked for supplies. I found two 10mm pistols and enough rounds for about two clips each. I placed one on the desk, along with a thigh holster. She shook her head.

“Take the gun, Nora.” I insisted.

“I don’t think that I’ll need it.” She responded.

“You need to be careful, Nora. We don’t know what’s going on here.”

She sighed heavily. “Fine.” She took the gun and strapped it to her leg. “Got it! Overseer’s secret tunnel, I say open sesame!” 

The door on the other side of the room opened. She smiled. I sighed. Well, we were one step closer to getting out of here, which was good, I supposed. One step closer to Shaun. I had to stop. It was time to focus on this. I continued to walk. I heard something from the corner. 

It was a giant cockroach. 

I fired two shots and it was dead.

Well, it was easier to kill than a normal sized cockroach.

“What the hell is going on here?” I asked.

“Am I supposed to know?” Nora said.

“Whatever. Let’s get out of here.”

“Yes, let’s.”

Well, we went a little while without something resembling a fight.

We walked for a little while longer before we reached the elevator. Finally. Nora went to the door and cursed.

“We need a Pip-Boy.” She looked down. “Oh, for fuc- well, I hope this doesn’t curse me.”

She grabbed a personalised computer off of a skeleton. I had to say that she was taking all of this in stride. To my knowledge, she had never seen a dead body before. She put it on her arm and walked to the door controls. She pressed a few buttons and the vault door opened, the metal screeching as it was pulled away. We walked to the elevator. It was time to get out of here. Finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never forget: comments=writer fuel. It lets us know that you're reading and enjoying. :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay chapter 3! Happy fun times. I have an outline of the whole story now, so I hope that writing will continue to go smoothly.

_~Nate’s POV~_

The elevator could not move fast enough. We were just… waiting. It was hell. Nora was especially jumpy. I was still holding the gun in my hands. After that giant roach, I had no idea what we were supposed to expect up there. There could be anything. I was waiting for the worst. That bomb had gone off pretty close to home. Would there be anything left? I shook my head. I needed to be focused on one thing at a time. Nora had calmed down, at least. It seemed like she was pacing less. That was a good sign. 

Finally, the elevator broke through to the surface. It was… desolate. There was a waste land. There were skeletons littering the ground. The ground was brown and scarred. Nora stepped off of the platform and looked around. Her hand covered her mouth in shock. I was having a similar reaction. It was broken. The world was destroyed. I wasn’t entirely sure what else I had been expecting. I think I had thought it would be worse. A lot worse. How much time had passed since we had been down there? Nora hadn’t check the date on that terminal. Damn her. That would have been actually helpful. Though, I supposed that she did help get us out of there… I walked onto the ground.

“It’s… gone.” She said. “In an instant, just… gone. My god. Is the whole world like this?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, if we’re going to find Shaun, we’d better find some place to start. I guess let’s go to Sanctuary Hills, see if there’s some sort of a clue there.”

“That… all right. Though I doubt there will be anything there.”

“If you have a better plan, Nate, I’d love to hear it. Please, because if you can think of a faster way to get our son back, I am all ears.” She whirled on me.

“I don’t have anything. Let’s… let’s go.”

I sighed. This was going to be fun. I could already picture it: Nate and Nora, hitting the road, trying not to kill each other while they went searching for their son. I walked a little ways behind Nora. She seemed determined to march forward along the path. I looked around the once familiar woods. They had turned into something dark and uninviting. I kept my hand next to my gun. I wasn’t going to take any chances here. Nora walked over the bridge and then we finally reached Sanctuary Hills. Or, at least, what was left of it. The houses were collapsed, the pavement was cracked… I couldn’t recognise it. This was not the small little suburban neighbourhood I loved. Nora made a turn. She was heading back to my house, if it was even still there.

She stopped outside the door. Well, the doorway, anyway. She took a step forward. I stayed where I was. My home was gone. 

“Codsworth?” Nora said.

What? Codsworth was still here? How was that even possible? I made my way to Nora and Codsworth. They were standing just inside of the house.

“As I live and breath! Is it really you? Sir? And Ma’am? It’s… it’s _really_ you!” He said, with more emotion than I thought possible, even for Codsworth.

“What are you still doing here?” I asked.

“Well, I was waiting for you, of course! I knew that you would come back soon. Although, not too soon, it would seem. But I understand! We all need time away from the house now and again. Where is Shaun? Is he not with you?”

“Codsworth, Shaun was… he was kidnapped.” Nora said calmly.

How was she being so calm? This was the same woman who only a few moments ago was having a panic attack about all of this. Maybe she was bipolar. That would explain a lot, actually.

“Ma’am, these things, these… these _terrible_ things… I… I believe we need a distraction. Yes! A distraction to help this dire mood!” Codsworth said excitedly. Nora and I exchanged a glance. “It’s been ages since we’ve had a proper family activity. Perhaps we can find Shaun together! He must be around here somewhere!”

“Codsworth, he… he was taken. I told you that.” Nora reminded him. It didn’t seem to be registering with Codsworth.

“It’s worse than I thought. Hmmm…you seem to be suffering from… hunger-induced paranoia. Not eating properly for 200 years will do that, I’m afraid.”

Two… 200 years. We had been gone for 200 years? How was that… well, how was that possible was the wrong question to be asking here. How it was possible was obvious. But 200 years… at least the world was still here. Nora nodded in shock. She did seem to be processing this better than me. That was nice. I ran a hand down my face. 200 years. What if Shaun had been… no. I couldn’t think like that. I had to remain positive, right?

“Codsworth, I just need you to tell me what’s going on. 200 years?”

“Well, a bit over 210 years, actually. Give or take a little for the Earth’s rotation and a few minor dings to the old chronometer. That means you’re, uh, two centuries late for dinner! Perhaps I should whip you up a quick snack. You must be famished!”

A snack didn’t sound that bad… I could use one. I shook my head. There were more important things to worry about. For instance, Codsworth. The way that he was acting… this was bad. It was like he was in denial. Could a robot be in denial? Was that even remotely possible? I took a deep breath. This was… I was not prepared for this. Nothing in my life could have prepared me for this.

* * *

_~Nora’s POV~_

“Codsworth, are you… are you feeling okay?” Nate asked. “You’re acting a little… weird.”

“I… I… oh, sir! It’s just been horrible! Two centuries with no one to talk to, no one to serve! I spent the first _ten years_ trying to keep the floors waxed, but nothing gets nuclear fallout from vinyl wood. Nothing!” Codsworth exclaimed. “And don’t get me started on the futility of dusting a collapsed house. And the car. The car! How do you polish rust?!”

“I need you to focus, Codsworth.” I said, stepping forward and resting a hand on his metal exoskeleton. “What do you know?” 

“I’m afraid I don’t know anything, ma’am! The bombs came and all of you left in such a hurry, I thought for certain, you and your family were… were dead!”

No. Oh, no. Poor Codsworth. He was designed to have someone to help. He was supposed to serve and not being able to do that for 200 years could have certainly messed with some of his wiring. Unless he was just in denial. I stopped thinking about it. More important things, right. There were a lot of things that needed to be discussed, most of them involving Shaun and how Codsworth could possibly help us _find_ Shaun.

“Now, enough feeling sorry for myself! Shall we search the neighbourhood together? Perhaps Shaun is still around somewhere?” Codsworth said.

“All right, it can’t hurt to look.” Nate sighed.

It could, actually. I was more than certain that Shaun wasn’t here. If he was, then Codsworth would have known about it. He would have been crying. We would have heard him. There was simply no way that Shaun was just here, as much as I wanted him to be. It would make everything so much simpler. But he wasn’t. I resigned myself to following Nate and a very enthusiastic Codsworth through the neighbourhood. With each house that we searched, their disappointment grew. I wasn’t sure what they had been expecting. I wasn’t expecting the giant bugs, so I had to give them that one detail. I tapped my fingers against my leg impatiently. We needed to be out there, looking for Shaun, not sitting here looking around a neighbourhood that only had a malfunctioning robot! I sighed in frustration. 

I walked away from Nate and Codsworth while they had a… a moment or something. I walked to Nate’s old house. I went into Shaun’s old room. His crib was still there. No one had taken it apart. That must have been Codsworth’s doing. I leaned against the old blue wood and fought back the tears. It was my fault that Shaun was missing now. I had let him go. It would have been better if they would have killed me. They would have saved me from this guilt. I reached up to my shoulder and touched the gauze bandage. I had a feeling this would only be the first of many scars this world would give me while I searched for my son. I knew one thing for certain: I was going to make the bastards that took my son pay for this. They would regret everything they had done.

I heard a whimper come from the closet. It sounded like a dog. I furrowed my brow and walked over. I opened the door. A german shepherd jumped out and cowered under the crib. I hadn’t seen that coming. I kneeled down next to the crib. The dog backed away and whimpered again. I reached out my hand towards him slowly. It didn’t seem like he wanted to hurt me. That was a good sign.

“Here, boy.” I called softly. He crawled towards me, sniffing my outstretched hand with interest. I took a step back from the crib. “That’s it. Come on, boy. Come on. It’s okay.” He continued to move towards me until he was out from under the crib. I reached to the top of his head and gently petted the fur between his ears. “Good boy. Where’s your owner?” Another whimper. “Do you wanna come with me, boy?” A happy bark. “I’ll take that as a yes, then. Let’s go.”

I stood up. The dog stayed by me. I walked outside. Codsworth and Nate were standing outside of the door.

“Nora. I was wondering where you had gone! You can’t just walk off like that!” Nate said.

“Oh, would you relax, Nate? I’m fine, clearly. And, I found a friend.” I gestured to the dog. He barked and wagged his tail.

“No.”

“I’m sorry?”

“We’re not taking a dog with us.”

“And who says that you have a say?”

“Well, we’re travelling together and a dog will just be a liability.”

“Yeah, you have no way to know that, and he’s coming with us. Besides, I don’t think I could get rid of him even if I wanted to.”

“Sure you could. Just scare him off.” Nate reached for his gun.

The dog growled and looked like he was ready to attack Nate. I liked him already.

“You’re not shooting the dog! He could be useful in combat!”

“She does have a point, sir. Dogs are very good in combat situations these days. I would take him with you, just to be safe.” Codsworth suggested.

“Fine! Fine, the dog can come with us, but I bet you he’ll run at the first sign of an enemy.” Nate sighed.

“And I bet you he won’t.” I insisted.

“He shall be particularly useful if you’re travelling through Concord.” Codsworth said.

“Concord?” I asked.

“Yes, there are some people there, though I can’t comment on how helpful they may be. I myself have only gone there once. The locals only hit me with sticks once.”

“That’s… that’s nice, Codsworth. Thank you, for everything.”

“Anything for the two of you, just… come back soon?”

“We’ll do our best, Codsworth.”

Our very best. Concord. I had been to Concord before. Well, Concord 200 years ago. I wondered how it had changed. After a nuclear explosion, it had to be pretty desolate. I was very sure that there wouldn’t be that many people there. Were there even any other people? Codsworth had mentioned people hitting him with sticks. Were those really the kind of people that had taken Shaun? Was he safe? I shook my head. I would get nowhere if I focused on the negatives of this situation, as many as there were. It would be too easy to let myself fall into insanity here. I rubbed the dog’s ears. He was wagging his tail.

Nate didn’t look too happy, for several reasons. I wasn’t fond of the idea of travelling with him either. Especially not when he had a gun. And when I had a gun. I just had to remind myself that this wasn’t about me and Nate. Our personal history didn’t matter. It was about Shaun and getting him back. That was what mattered to me and I hoped that that was what mattered to Nate, too. I looked out towards Concord. It was time to head out. 

Well, almost. I had to do something about this bright blue uniform. It was comfortable, but clearly offered little resistance when it came to bullets. I searched through some of the old dressers. I found an old flannel shirt and dark pants. There were black combat boots in the closet. I quickly changed and put the vault suit behind. I headed back outside.

“Are you done yet?” Nate asked.

“I just don’t want to be an easy target for anything that wants to kill us, Nate. So yes, I’m done.” I responded. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Couldn’t agree more.”

Codsworth stopped me before I reached the edge of the neighbourhood.

“Excuse me, ma’am, but I couldn’t help but notice that you and sir didn’t have enough ammo. I found this hunting rifle not too long ago. It’s useless to me. Please take it. For your own safety.” He said.

“Oh. Erm, thanks, Codsworth. That’ll be really helpful, actually. We’ll come back. I promise.”

“Be safe, ma’am.”

I hoped that I would be able to come back in one piece. I hoped that I would be able to come back with Shaun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should tell you, on Friday and Saturday of this week, I will be out of town without access to my computer, so I won't post for two days. I might post extra chapters to make up for it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey chapter four, on schedule. Should be fun. I hope.

_~Nora’s POV~_

I had taken to counting the number of cracks in the road to avoid talking to Nate.

It wasn’t entertaining at all, but it kept us from fighting. It kept us from fighting. That was the positive that I forced myself to focus on when I wasn’t focusing on where Shaun was and if he was safe. Before I had taken to counting the cracks in the road (I was up to 564), I had been counting how many bullets I had. I had 23 10mm bullets, and 20 .308 rounds. It was a good start. We had encountered a few more bugs like the ones in the vault (flies. Giant flies. It made me think of Brundlefly, from the movies), and one rather ferocious mongrel. I was pleased to say that _my_ dog didn’t run from a fight. He was very happy to fight with us and I was more than happy to point that out to Nate. Nate grumbled about it under his breath. Okay, so maybe I had spent some time trying to pick a fight. After all, Nate was the only person that I had any contact with, even if that contact was rather… confrontational.

It was better than nothing.

Probably. 

I mean, it was enough to keep me sane. Then again, I had been in this world for a little over an hour. The jury was really still out on all of that. I let out a breath. 565. 566. 567. I was just a little tired of counting the cracks in the road. Maybe there was a better silent game to play. I didn’t want to make too much noise, just in case we drew attention to ourselves on the way to Concord. There really could have been anything there. We had to be prepared. I kept the hunting rifle Codsworth had given me handy. As we approached the town of Concord, I got more suspicious. Every breeze was the breath of an enemy, every twig snapping a footstep. Nate seemed very relaxed. I supposed that he was used to this. He had been in a war. He had been ambushed before.

I reluctantly followed his example. He was probably better suited to the stresses of this than me. I was a hell of a shot, don’t get me wrong. I had grown up with three brothers. They had taught me how to shoot a gun. And to bowhunt. Neither were things that I really did in my free time, but they were good things to know in this world. I looked around at the abandoned buildings. I tried to remember what they had looked like before the bombs fell. I could see the building where I used to work. My house was a couple miles away from there. The place where I was going to send Shaun to preschool was on our left. 

Would I ever be able to look at this town in the present? Was I so deadset on the past that I would never get over it? I wouldn’t survive very long with a mindset like that. I just had to focus on Shaun. I had to keep him in mind while I did everything. It all had to be for him. Nate stopped. He held out his hand. I held my tongue. I was sure that there was a good reason for it, so silence was probably our best option. I held up my hunting rifle. It only hurt my shoulder a little. Thank god the bullet had hit the left side and not the right. I would have been stuck to the use of the pistol. 

I looked around at the buildings, this time with the eye of someone looking for enemies. I wasn’t sure how, exactly, I would react to killing someone, but this world had different rules. I didn’t know what any of them were. Anything could go here. We had to be ready. I was ready. 

Gunshots. I could hear them, clear as day. Nate and I headed towards the sound. My dog growled. I crouched closer to the ground. There were four people outside of the old history building, firing up at someone using a laser rifle. Nate and I nodded in agreement. I just hoped that we were helping the good guys. I fired at one of the men. It lodged in his leg. Okay, so maybe I was a little rusty when it came to firing guns. I could remedy that quickly. I aimed again. He turned around and aimed his gun at me. I fired. It hit him in the chest and he fell to the ground, dead.

I didn’t care.

I mean, I cared. I had just killed a man, but it wasn’t the guilt that I had been expecting. It was just… there. Nate had shot at one. I ducked behind a pile of bricks. I unholstered my pistol and strapped my rifle to my back. I looked over and fired off two more shots. I hit an arm and I think I grazed a neck. Two more shots and it was over. Nate and I were lucky to not have gotten hit by any stray bullets. I let out a breath. That had been… exhilarating. I never thought that I would be in a firefight and I most certainly never thought that I would enjoy it this much. The man on the balcony waved down at us.

“Hey! You two! We’ve got more raiders inside! They’ve got us pinned down! We could really use your help!” He shouted.

“Yeah. Yeah! We’ll help out as best we can!” Nate said back.

Good. Good, I wanted to help them. That was the right thing to do. We headed inside, crouching to hopefully keep ourselves hidden from the raiders firing on the poor souls. We mutually, and somehow telepathically, agreed that it would be best for us to split up. I took the left side with my dog close behind me. Nate stuck to the right, heading up the stairs. I slowly opened the door. There were three raiders on my floor. Three well placed bullets. It would alert them to my position, but if I was quick about it, then I could get rid of them and still find cover before they could get any shots off. That was my best bet.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm my nerves. I aimed my pistol and took another breath. My dog stayed next to me, laying down and wagging his tail. It felt like he was supporting me. That was how I was going to see it, as it was helping me aim. I let off a shot. It hit my target. I didn’t take time to rejoice. Like I had said before, that first shot had allowed for the others to know my position. I let off two more shots in rapid succession, both finding their targets. It was good to know that my marksman’s ability hadn’t dissipated over the years. 

“Ha! Not bad for someone who’s over 200 years old, right boy!” I scratched the dog’s back. “Maybe I should give you a name soon. So I can stop calling you dog.” He nuzzled my hand. “I’ll take that as a yes. Come on, let’s go see how Nate’s doing.”

I found a set of stairs and starting to head to the second floor. There were a few more shots. Nate. I moved faster. My dog pushed by me and went through the door. I followed close behind him. He seemed to know what he was doing and where he was going. I knew that this dog would be a good idea. There were a few more shots. We moved faster. I found Nate standing over a couple of bodies, breathing heavily, aiming his gun at the dead bodies. When he saw me, he looked absolutely monstrous. This was going to be great, I could already tell.

“What the hell were you thinking?” He asked me, holstering his pistol. That was a good sign.

Probably.

“I was thinking that we need to help those people and that there were three raiders in my way.” I responded.

“You nearly got me killed! We were supposed to be stealthy!”

“And if we had done that, then we would have both died, thus condemning the people trapped in here!”

“We are in no shape to be helping people from… from raiders! We don’t belong here!”

“Well, here we are! We don’t have anywhere else to go, Nate! So suck it up and help me. Otherwise, you can leave and try to find Shaun on your own.”

“No! No, that’s… we’ll never get anywhere if we act like this! If we _behave_ like this! We’re not children, Nora! We have to learn to _cooperate!”_

“Please!” I scoffed. “You couldn’t cooperate with a dog treat on a string and you know it!”

“We don’t have a choice!” He shouted. “Our son is out there, alone, and we need to find him. Don’t say anything, Nora, and let me finish, for once, please. We have to work together, at least until we find Shaun. Agreed?”

I sighed. He was right. I knew he was right, he just… he drove me insane.

“Fine.”

We continued along, again in silence. It was that tense silence that followed a fight. The tension could have been cut with a knife. Hell, it could have stopped the bullets that we were firing. We went up another floor and took out a few more raiders before we reached the man from the balcony. I took some time to search for extra ammunition. I found an extra gun for Nate. It was an old .38 revolver. I pushed the door open.

It really was a ragtag group of five people, all stuck in one room. They looked up when they saw us and let out a collective sigh of relief. I recognised the man from the balcony. Sort of. I recognised his hat. He was dressed in an old outfit that looked like it was straight out of an old history book. He took a few steps towards us.

“I don’t know how to thank you. The two of you really got us out of a tight spot there.” He said. “My name is Preston Garvey. This is Sturges,” he gestured to the man at the computer, “those are the Longs,” a small couple in the corner, comforting each other, “and this here is Mama Murphy, our resident psychic.”

A psychic? Well, anything was possible in an irradiated world, I supposed. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Preston. My name is Nate Lloyd and this is Chris Dayes.” Nate said.

I smiled and hit his shoulder. No right to give away our names, but whatever. Just trust whoever, that was a _great_ idea. Truly phenomenal. The best he had ever had.

“We were just passing through when we ran into you guys. Would’ve been wrong to just leave you all here to die.” I smiled again. 

“You know, we still can’t leave here. There are too many raiders outside. The two of you, or at least one of you, could help us immensely.” Preston took off his hat and scratched the top of his head.

“Really? With what?” Nate asked.

“Well, glad you asked.” Sturges said, moving away from the terminal and taking Nate to the side.

“I told you two wayward souls would come along, Preston. You need to start listenin’ to me.” Mama Murphy scoffed. “Come here, sweetheart, let me look at you.”

I looked around and stood in front of the old woman. She took my hands and frowned.

“There’s a dark energy surroundin’ your life. A great loss. I can see it. A metal door, a cold room… confined.”

She… she was a genuine psychic. There was no way that she could… well, Nate’s vault-suit, but even that was covered with an old leather jacket and some makeshift armour. And Shaun…

“Please, is there anything else that you can tell me? Anything at all.”

“Sorry, kid. The Sight is a tricky thing. Doesn’t show me everything. Did show me Dogmeat comin’ back here. He’s been travellin’ for a long time, lookin’ for a true companion. Seems he found one in you.” 

I smiled down at the dog. Dogmeat. It suited him. He yipped and pushed his head under my hand. Yeah. That was a good name for him.

“Well, thank you for that, Mama Murphy. But we really must be going. You see, we’re looking for someone. It’s…” Could I trust them with this information? Could I really? Did I even have any choice? “He’s our son.”

“Oh, so the two of you are…” Preston said.

“No! God, no, not for a long, _long_ time. But we’re sticking together until we find him.”

“Well, Diamond City would be your best bet. They’re connected to the whole Commonwealth.”

“Got directions?” I held up my Pip-Boy. Preston gave me the coordinates. “Thank you, thank you so much.”

“It’s the least that I could do to repay the two of you.”

That was all that we said after that, other than a few goodbyes. Nate had given them directions to Sanctuary Hills so they could create a settlement. With that, we said goodbye to them. Preston told us that if we ever needed anything, just come to the Minutemen. They would help us the best that they could while they got back on their feet. I smiled and thanked them. It was strange to have met such kind people so early on. 

“To Diamond City it is, then.” I said.

“The Great Green Jewel. Let’s go.” Nate started off.

The Green Jewel of the Commonwealth, here we come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does this seem like a good story so far? I hope so. Thanks for sticking with it so far! :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOST THE PLAN. I had a plan from chapter 1-22 and I LOST IT. I've got most of it rewritten. This should be FuN!

_~Nate’s POV~_

So here we were. Nora and I had stopped in front of the old baseball field. I was impressed. They had managed to turn it into a fully functioning city. If we were going to get any information on where Shaun was, this was our best bet. Nora walked forward towards the great metal gate. She rested a hand against it, like she was trying to remember what it used to look like. She stepped back and walked to a guard. He looked at us suspiciously. His eyes lingered over Nora’s form. I couldn’t blame him. For being suspicious, not for looking at Nora! I had been in this time period for just about a day and I already had a pretty good idea of how suspicious to be. Preston and Sturges had told us about that money and the “law” of the land, or lack thereof. I was grateful for the crash course in our post-apocalyptic world. The guard held his gun tightly. I noticed that Nora’s pistol was unholstered. Was she really going to be hostile in this situation? That would get us nowhere.

“Excuse me, sir, but we’d like to get into the city. Can you open the gate for us?” She said in a sickly sweet tone.

“I don’t know, ma’am… the mayor’s not a fan of unknowns…” he said. “You and your boyfriend will have to go through a couple of-”

“Oh, he’s not my boyfriend. Isn’t there anyway that you could make an exception? Just this once?” Nora rested her hand on his shoulder.

“I… yeah, just this once. Just don’t tell anyone, okay?”

I was dumbfounded. She had touched his shoulder. Was she magic? There was simply no way. No. She wasn’t. The guard walked to the intercom and told them to let us in. I stood next to Nora as the great door opened.

“At least now I know how you won all those cases.” I scoffed.

“Play to people’s weaknesses to get what you want. It’s an unfortunate fact that needs to be used. Get used to it, Nate, or you’ll end up dead.” Nora responded, closing the holster of her pistol.

I hoped that she didn’t really believe that. Manipulation was not the right way to go about all of this. She had to see that, right? If not, then this was going to be even harder than I originally thought. We already fought so often… I sighed. The gates opened and we walked into Diamond City. There were, unsurprisingly, more guards inside. They watched us carefully as we moved past them and up the steps to the field. I had to say that it was… amazing. I could hardly tell that it used to be a place for entertainment. It was a fully functioning city. No wonder it was the Jewel of the Commonwealth. Nora wasn’t looking at it with the same wonder I was. She seemed determined to find someone to give us information. She had never really been one for sightseeing. I resigned myself to following her on the path. There was really no stopping her at this point.

She went to another guard.

“I was told that this was the place to go to find a missing person.” She said.

“You came to the right town. Nick Valentine is the way to go. He has an office, not far from here. Just go down that alley and follow the signs.” The guard said.

“Thank you.”

“I hope you find who you’re looking for.” 

I decided to take back my earlier statement. Nora was most definitely magical.

We walked in the direction the guard had pointed to. There were red neon signs, like he had said, that took us the rest of the way, stopping when we reached the sign that said “Valentine Detective Agency”. Nora took a deep breath. I was tempted to take her hand but ultimately thought better of it, for multiple reasons. It wasn’t out of affection. It was really just about having that connection with someone. Physical contact. We were closer to finding Shaun, one step closer. It was a little surreal. I still wasn’t entirely convinced that this wasn’t all just a dream. I was still in the cryopod in my mind, and when it finally opened, I would see Shaun and Nora across the way. We would be a family. A family of misfits, but a family nonetheless, in the vault together. We would live. That was what I wanted. This _was_ a dream, right? I looked at Nora. No, this was real life. This was our life now.

Nora pushed open the door. It did look rather like the old police offices, with filing cabinets filled with manilla folders, a desk in the corner and a young woman acting as the receptionist, keeping things organised. She was pretty. Nora nudged my shoulder when she noticed I was looking. I shrugged. What did it matter to her, anyway? I shook my head. The woman looked over when she heard the door closed. She stood quickly, her chair skittering against the floor. She walked out from behind the desk and held out her hand. Nora tentatively took it.

“Hi! My name is Ellie. I’m Nick’s, well, everything. I look after the office while he’s away on business. How can I help you?” Ellie said. 

“We’re looking for Nick Valentine. We need his help.” I said, finally finding my voice in this city.

“Of course. Please, take a seat while I get him.”

She seemed almost… _too_ pleasant. There was just something off about this. Of course, that also could have been my nerves. I was trying my best to remain as calm as I could, but it was rather difficult. I was lying to myself as well as to Nora. It was exhausting. I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to keep this up. At least a little while longer, if not for me, then for Shaun. That was what kept me sane: the idea of seeing my son again, alive and well. Nora’s dog sat next to her, resting his head on her lap. She absentmindedly stroked the fur between his ears. I still thought that he would be a liability and that Nora only kept him because I said no. She was petty like that.

Not that I was any better.

We would have to work on that later. If we could. Maybe.

Ellie came back with Nick. 

He was not what I had expected. 

I had no words. He was… a robot. A talking robot. A humanoid robot. Nora tensed. I put my hand on her shoulder. Calm would be a very good thing to have right now. I knew that. I had to make sure that Nora knew that, too. She shook me off and stood to greet him. At least she knew that this was our best shot at finding Shaun and was being civil. Though, as I thought about it more, I realised that there was no real way for me to know what was going on in her head. I hoped that it was just about finding Shaun.

“Mr. Valentine, thank you for meeting us.” I said.

“Of course, this is my job, after all. Now, what does this fine couple need?” Nick asked.

He didn’t sound like a robot. That was a good thing, I supposed.

“We’re not a couple. We were, but we got divorced.” I explained.

Nick looked a little more… reluctant now. “I’m not sure that it’s a good idea for me to work for a divorced couple. That might not go so well for the old circuits.”

“Wait, Nick, before you push us aside, please. I know that it can’t be easy to look at us and see two people that will cooperate. Believe me, I find it hard to see myself. We need your help. We can’t do this on our own.”

Nick sighed.

“Who’s this person I’m looking for?”

“Our son, Shaun. He was taken from us.”

“What can you tell me about the day he was taken?”

Nora took point on the explanation. I sat back in my chair while she told him about the vault, our son, and finally, the people that took him. Nick seemed particularly intrigued by the man she described. He stood and walked to one of the cabinets. He flipped through a few files, finding the one he met. He set it down on the desk and looked inside. Nick pulled out an old photo and set it in front of us.

“That’s him!” I said. 

“That’s what I was afraid of. That’s Kellogg, the meanest mercenary this side of the Commonwealth, hell, the world, has ever seen. He’s been on my list for a long time. I believe he works for a group called the ‘Institute’. They’re the boogeymen of the Commonwealth, and it matches their usual M.O.”

“The Institute? Do you think that Kellogg will be able to take us there?” 

Nick shrugged. “The only way to find out is to find him.”

“Is there anyway you can help us find him, Nick?”

“Well, lucky for you, he just so happened to have a house in town. Lived there for a couple of months with a young boy, no older than ten.”

I straightened up. Could it be Shaun? It wasn’t completely ridiculous to believe that it had been ten years since we’d seen Shaun last. He could have grown up since then. I wasn’t really expecting to find an infant in this place. 

“We need to get into that house.” Nora said. “Even if that kid wasn’t Shaun, we can still find clues on where Kellogg went.”

“I’ll take you up there. Been foreclosed for a few weeks now. Should be easy enough to get into.” Nick said. “Shall we?”

“Let’s go.” Nora said, standing up.

Nick took the lead. Dogmeat ran ahead of all of us, waiting patiently when he got too far ahead. It wasn’t long before we reached the house. It looked like… well, like a house that had been built by scraps of metal. Nick crouched by the door. 

“Well, I can’t open it. Maybe one of you can give it a shot.” Nick sighed.

“I don’t think that either of us can-” I started. Nora kneeled by the door. “Nevermind.”

“Yeah, I, erm, may have had a rebel phase that stemmed from me getting locked out of the house after sneaking out.” She explained. “Got it.”

The door swung open. The three of us came inside. Nora immediately went upstairs to look for evidence. I looked around his desk while Nick inspected the walls. I didn’t question him. He had been around a lot longer than us. He must have done things like this before. There was nothing here. Kellogg had taken everything when he had left. There wasn’t a trace of him anywhere. Of course, the mayor could have taken everything when he foreclosed the place.

Then I saw it.

A little wire. Under the desk. I looked underneath. It was a button. It wouldn’t hurt to press it. Probably.

I pressed it.

A door in the side of the wall opened. It revealed a secret room. Dogmeat ran inside and grabbed something. He ran up to Nora and dropped it at her feet.

“It’s a cigar stub.” She said. “San Francisco Sunlights. That’s a pretty unique brand. Do you think that Dogmeat could track him?”

“It’s not that much of a long shot. I don’t see any reason not to try.”

Why not? Let the dog decide where to go to find our son, that was just a great idea. Nora held up the cigar butt for Dogmeat. He barked. Nora pushed open the door. Dogmeat tore off throughout the city, Nora close behind him. Nick and I trailed a little ways behind. Nick was definitely more into this idea than I was. They both were. I wasn’t a fan of leaving my son’s life up to a dog that had been hiding in his closet, but hey. Why not? I sighed as we left the city limits. I kept my gun in my hand, just in case we ran into any undesirables. Dogmeat took us away from Concord and away from the jungle of buildings. We travelled along a road that lead into what could loosely be called woods. There were a couple more things that helped take us through to Kellogg. There were even bloody rags. Nora and I only almost argued once. That was an improvement.

No, I wasn’t coming around to the idea of following a dog. It was ridiculous.

It. No.

Dogmeat stopped in front of a building called Fort Hagen. Nick looked around the front entrance. 

“Well, looks like this is the end of the road for us. I wish I could help you more, but three’s really a crowd. I’ll head back to the office. Come and find me if you need any more help finding your son.” Nick said.

“Are you sure?” Nora asked. “You don’t have to go, Nick.”

“I think the two of you can handle this on your own.”

“Thank you, Nick. For everything. We never would have gotten this far on our own.”

“Anytime, kid. Please tell me when you find your son.”

“Of course.”

Nora and I watched as he left. I didn’t understand why he wanted to go, but I respected it. We had talked a little over the approximately three hours it took to get here. Nora walked to Dogmeat, scratching under his chin.

“All right, I have to admit. The dog was useful.” I sighed, finally caving into him.

“See? I told you. I knew he would be an asset. Come on, Dogmeat. Do you need some rest?” She asked. He sneezed and shook his head. “Then come on, boy. We’ve got a kidnapper to catch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO MucH fUn


End file.
